Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Book Review & Giveaway: Cybele Pascal's Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking

Several months ago I received a brand-new beautiful review copy of Cybele Pascal's latest cookbook, "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking." And my friends... if you deal with multiple food sensitivities or allergies, this book is DEFINITELY for you. Cybele made EVERY recipe in this book free of: gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and sesame.

The book contains 75 recipes for quick and easy 30 minute meals at home. TO be honest, I receive so many cookbooks, I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book. But as soon as I started thumbing through it, I immediately smiled. These are easy, everyday, "down home" comfort foods... and that is the kind of cooking I like to do.

I'm about as far from a gourmet as you can get (although I do prefer freshly grated pepper and nutmeg, smoked paprika, and grass-fed beef... I mean you have to have some priorities right? :-) Cybele does an amazing thing here... as a sophisticated wife, mom, entrepreneur, chef, and home cook she takes the gluten-filled foods you loved and remember and turns them into allergen-free masterpieces with basic, healthy ingredients you probably have in your pantry right now.

There are a few specialty ingredients you will need for some dishes (such as Daiya dairy-free, soy-free "cheese" -- which I LOVE) but most of these items can easily be found online, if not at your local higher-end grocery store like Whole Foods.

Here are a handful of recipes that particularly caught my eye:

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Squares

Creamy Mac & Cheese

Shepard's Pie

Chicken and Sausage Paella

Chicken a' la King

Salisbury Steaks with Mashed Potatoes

I had every intention of trying the Salisbury steak tonight because I have to admit, on the occasional time we had frozen dinners growing up, I LOVED Salisbury Steak... and I was SO excited when I saw Cybele's rendition of this classic ground beef steak and gravy.

Unfortunately work has been a little crazy and we ended up having gluten-free sandwiches because this chica was too tired to chop an onion (although Cybele shares her onion-chopping secret throughout the book and I have to say, I may just have to invest in it! It sounds like it would make weeknight veggie chopping a BREEZE!)

However I have a very special treat for you my dear readers... Yep! You now have a chance to win a copy of this wonderful book. Many cookbooks will come and go, but I truly think Cybele's "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking" will be on your kitchen shelf for years to come!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER!!

Congrats to comment #17 Lisa D!

I hope you really enjoy the book!

The Giveaway:

I am giving away one brand new copy of Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking by Cybele Pascal.

This giveaway is limited to residents of the 48 contiguous United States aged 18 and older.

One entry per person.

Enter by leaving a comment below on this post AND please include a way for me to contact you -- your email address preferably.

The giveaway begins January 8, 2013 and ends on January 15, 2013 at 11:00 pm eastern time.

No purchase is necessary. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.

The winners will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

GLG Disclosure:

Ten Speed Press provided me with a free copy of "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking" for the purpose of sharing an online review, if I chose to do so -- ALONG with 1 brand new copy to giveaway. This is not a sponsored post and I did not receive compensation. The opinions in this post are completely my own.

77 comments:

I would love to win the "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking." by Cybele Pascal.My daughter is at college and has multiple food allergies. This would make a great gift to her for menu planning and healthy eating!

I am a huge fan of Cybele's recipes and use her previous cookbooks all the time to prepare meals and treats for my family. My boys have different food allergies and I would LOVE to win Cybele's newest book to continue cooking wonderful recipes for my family. What an awesome giveaway!

I would love to win the "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking." by Cybele Pascal. Some times I get stuck in a rut. I think this would help me out and benefit my family as well. yellow_patricia at Hotmail dot com

I would love love love this book! My 4 year old daughter has multiple food allergies.... I would love for her to be able to have mac & cheese (amongst other things) with us. Being a working mom, week nights are hectic...30 min meals would be a dream. And I'm sure my autistic son will benefit too. My email: UmmReelly@aol.com

Oooh I'd love to have that book. It's so hard to come up with foods my whole family will eat. Kids are gfcf and husband is not. So its hard to please everyone but Cybele's recipes are always awesome! I've fed her chocolate maple cake to 1st graders who had no idea they were eating gluten free!char5995@yahoo.com

To win a copy of the "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking" book by Cybele Pascal would truly be a blessing for our family. After an exhausting search for a diagnosis, my husband finally found out six months ago that he has gluten and soy allergies, on top of already being lactose intolerant. I had to throw my whole cooking repertoire out the window and am still struggling to find ways to make delicious, healthy, and safe meals for my family. To compound matters, I too believe I am dealing with a mystery food allergy now and I suspect the culprit may be eggs..... :( Help! Thank you so much for your blog, your cookbooks, and dedicating so much of your time to help others! My email address is: sarahclf@aol.com.

Never won a cookbook before - but this one would be ideal - my husband has bben gluten free for almost a year and now the doc wants hime to go milk free, trying to make and find milk free recipes is harder than I thought - this book would be greatly appreciated and quite helpful.Thanks,Christy - cmweimann41@yahoo.com

I would love to win this cookbook since I have multiple food sensitivities I am always looking for new recipes and ideas. Thanks Carrie for this cookbook giveaway! My email address is regeneration31@yahoo.com

I have enjoyed your blog. Thanks for honestly sharing the struggles of making diet changes and continuing on...it encourages me. I am the mom of 5 and we all have food digestion problems. It has been challenging to learn to cook again. We are avoiding several things. I am definitely interested in the cookbook. Thanks. ourextrainbox@gmail.comLisa

3 months ago I found out that I'm allergic to milk, wheat, eggs, gluten and peanuts...at the age of 29! What a life change! I would be thrilled if I were chosen to receive this cookbook as I'm looking for new ideas. My email is susanrenea@cableone.net.

There are so many of us with a need for this book - I have a friend that I would love to give this to. He is allergic to gluten, soy and dairy. What complicates thing is that he is a professional musician and is on the road. He takes some basic cooking tools with him (including hot plate) and something like this would be a god-send. my mail is physicsaro@yahoo.com

Love the idea of a GF cookbook that also removes a lot of other allergens that plague various members of my family. It would make family get together s so much easier to cook for. I can be reached at jmarela@hotmail.com

This sounds like a good book for someone new to the dairy-free world and very intimidated (I've only been DF for a week now.) I am still a college student and 30 minutes is sometimes all that I have the effort for, so I would love to win a copy of the cookbook. College also = broke. bhendricks314 at tamu.edu

I've been struggling with food for almost 3 years now. My issues have made it impossible to have a family meal. This book sounds like a wonderful place to start! Thank you for the contest! While I certainly hope to win, I wish everyone the best of luck!

This sounds like a great book! I haven't been able to have gluten since early last year and cooking has become a whole new experience for me. It would be great to have a book that could help dinners become fast and easy again - and hopefully help me to create meals that my 3 gluten-tolerant guys would enjoy eating as well. :)

Hopefully Google should show you my e-mail address or I'm part of your yahoo group as Tegeb and my address is listed there. After seeing a friend show how much information you can find out about someone using just their e-mail, I'm cautious about posting my address in public.

Would love to have this cook book. I get as many recipes off the internet that I can for my husband and myself, but would love to have a "real" gluten-free cook book to cook from.Peggybillandpeggy.d@gmail.com

I would love to have this book as I am still having a hard time trying to find recipes that both myself and husband can enjoy. I feel bad making him give up some of his favorite things so when I find a recipe or store bought item that tastes like "the real thing" its a glorious day for both of us! :)Samanthasjobrien88@gmail.con

I have celiac sprue and now other autoimmune diseases, as does some members of my family. I am a VET with a disability taking care of my two teenage grandchildren and ill daughter who is pregnant on not much money. I have to start doing gluten free and lactose free, as I am getting much worse.

I would love to win the cookbook as my health depends on it. I need to learn about getting inexpensive, easy, quick allergy free recipes and ideas. Your site is great. I look forward to the support group and getting to know everyone. Thanks again win or no win; I have found this site. :o) sunshine

I really appreciate the opportunity to be in the drawing for the "Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking" cookbook by Cybele Pascal. Since my daughter found out she was gluten intolerant the whole family has switched most of the foods we prepare to gluten free.

I leafed through the copy I bought my niece for xmas and it looks amazing. P.S. I made your millet/cornbread the other night and was so tired I used powdered sugar instead of arrowroot (they're in unmarked pantry jars) and couldn't figure out why it was so sweet until I baked the next time. It was still quite good and my husband's already asked for it again. laurel van blarcum at sbc global dot net

Thanks for all you do with educating us and sharing your recipes and expertise with all of us that have to be on special diets. I would love to win his cookbook for new recipes to try. I can be contacted at dwilliy@socket.net. Thanks againDianna

Cybele's new book looks lovely and it would be wonderful to win the drawing. I am gluten-free and recently lactose-free and would love more inspiration in day to day cooking. I can be reached at deniseraeanne[at] gmail [dot] com